Ingredient She Hates to Cook With: Pineapple

“I personally hate to work with pineapple, the reason being that that was the one ingredient that played a critical role in me (and all my predecessors) being eliminated on my season of The Next Iron Chef,” she says.

Ingredient She Never Eats: Spam

Most-Memorable Meal: Anniversary Meal in Italy

“My husband and I went to Venice, Italy, for our first-year anniversary, and spent a day on the island of Burano. There we had lunch at the famed Trattoria al Gatto Nero da Ruggero — one of the most-incredible meals of our lives. It was a true homage to highlighting the beauty of the freshest ingredients, best olive oil, garlic and the secret ingredient in their cooking — salt from Trapani,” she says.